November 07, 2018

Of course, it's a long way before a complaint is allowed to be heard in court and that actually happening. Usually there will be a settlement just before the opening arguments.

A California appellate panel is permitting plaintiff Constance Ramos to bypass her law firm's arbitration agreement. As Scott Flaherty reports in Law.com, she will be able to take her gender bias lawsuit to court. That is "Constance Ramos v. Winston & Strawn LLP, et al." Here is a copy of the complaint.

This could be the first time a gender bias lawsuit by a partner against the firm will be heard in court. So far, as with Kerrie Campbell, represented by David Sanford, they are settled. It's assumed that law firms don't want their inner workings to become public information during a trial.

An income - that is, a non-equity - partner at Winston & Strawn Ramos contends she had experienced gender discrimination and retaliation at Winston & Strawn. Among the details, she claims she had been passed over for work and forced out of the firm. Currently she operates her own law firm: Akira IP.

Essentially the three-judge panel found the terms and conditions of the arbitration agreement "unconscionable."

For example, the agreement required Ramos to share in the cost of process and pay her own legal fees. The confidentiality provision would have prevented her from conducting those standard pre-discovery informal interviews of possible witnesses. Because they do not have to abide with discovery procedures they are a low-cost screening device to identify who could be useful in the dispute.

Ramos is represented by Noah Lebowitz. He operates an employee rights law firm in the Berkeley area of CA. Winston & Strawn is represented by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

During the recent walkout of googlers one beef aired was that corporation's requirement of mandatory arbitration in employee disputes. Googlers are hardly alone in pushing back on how that is imposed from the get-go on a new hire.

In California, the possible way around that is by leveraging the CA Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). Here is a backgrounder on PAGA.

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